初唐の「序」について

Abstract

A short way into Tang dynasty, a literary genre, "Preface of Poems" became rapidly flourishing. Preface of Poems here can be defined as an introductory essay attached when poems written on the occasion of banquets of seeing-off and others were grouped together. I examine works by Chu Tang si jie (初唐四傑), represented by Wang Bo(王勃), and following Chen Zi-ang(陳子昴) and Song Zhi-wen (宋之問), and consider their place and meaning in literary history. My conclusion is that Preface of Poems in Early Tang strongly reflects the literary and social situation of this period. The literature of Early Tang takes over the literary tradition from Six dynasties (六朝), like word-play literature "Fu de shi (賦得詩)" and it was created at banquets, which was typical of Six dynasties. But the banquet of Early Tang is different from that of Six dynasties. One difference is the banquet participant. In Six dynasties, participants were from the nobility class, while in Early Tang, from the newly-risen educated class who used to have little to do with literature. The other difference is that the banquet in Six dynasties was frequently repeated, but in Early Tang participants could not always expect to meet again after the banquet was over. For this reason, the banquet in Early Tang was filled with strong feelings, which the banquet in Six dynasties lacks. As the best way to express strong feelings, Preface of Poems was invented. Government officials of middle and low ranking were habitually transferred around the country and Preface of Poems in early Tang was a literary genre they acquired as a way of expressing themselves. The sense of ill fate and misfortune Preface of Poems of this period betray shows that they were conscious of their weak positions. Furthermore, when we think of the Preface established as a literary genre called "Zeng xu lei (贈序類)" in the Middle Tang and also of authors directly narrating to addresees of poems on the basis of the personal acqaintance with each other, Preface of Poems in Early Tang, we notice, gives precedence to expressing group sentiments. All these show the transitional character of Preface of Poems of this period. Authors and their works did not yet establish their own places in literary history. But the fact that the newly-rising class invented a new genre, Preface of Poems, as a means of the expression of their own sentiments is worth noticing. This is a new literary situation in Tang dynasty.